"The superior man is catholic and no partizan. The mean man is a partizan and not catholic." (君子周而不比、小人比而不周。) ─ Confucius, The Analects, 2.XIV, translation by James Legge.

Monday, August 23, 2010

Christian Missionary "Investors" in North Korea

"Matter of fact, we bumped into some Americans," says American business professor Patrick Chovanec of the only "investors" he'd met on a visit to North Korea's ""Rason special economic zone"" — What's It Like to Be a Tourist in North Korea? His explanation explains a lot:

They actually were missionaries, based just across the border in China. They can't preach in North Korea, of course, but they've come as "investors" to build and run an orphanage, a bread factory, and a soy-milk factory. These "businesses" don't make money; they're just there to help people. To this day, one of most popular themes in North Korean propaganda involves evil Christian missionaries who inject Korean children with deadly germs, before the revolution. They even put the story in comic books for kids. Officially, they're inhuman monsters. Unofficially, the government invites them in because they're the only people willing to extend a lifeline.